Watching Bill Moyers talk with Jim Hightower, Hightower while discussing the revolution, so to speak, gets into the co-op movement a bit, talking about how widespread and under-reported the movement is. I just re-read Antarctica a week or so ago, and KSR also went into some detail about how that movement is growing. Other than food co-ops, which I've belonged to for decades, and credit unions (ditto), I'm hard-pressed to find other co-ops. Would love to find a health plan co-op, for example. I've done a little searching for a co-op directory of some sort but with very little luck. Anyone know of such a thing?

Really struggling with Galileo's Dream. Like the premise and the plot but the "hard science" is way overdone and boring and detracting from the story. Either Galileo is sour and a grouch or immersed in stuff I just do not understand to that depth. Would love to finish but have put it down for now. I read a lot of sci-fi, but this one is out of balance if you ask me.

I am really struggling with Galileo's Dream. I like the premise and plot ideas, but the "hard science" is way overdone , boring and detracts from the story in my judgment. Galileo is either grouchy and sour or immersed too deep in temporal physics I do not understand and cannot relate to the overall story. Ilike science fiction and read a lot, but I have put this one down halfway through. Too much other stuff to read that I will like better.

I just finished the first book of yours I have ever read (not the first you wrote as I understand it): Sixty Days & Counting. WOW! That was a compelling read! I liked how you build up each character slowly and how the story was told from various people's perspectives from Phil Chase to little Joe. Fantastic! Can't wait to add more of your books to my personal library right along side David Eddings! Thank you!

I am trying to track down a story about a geographer in ancient Egypt who met a feathered alien spaceperson, all of which led to the Egyptians' religious part man part animal gods, and also in it was the pharos of Alexandria. I think it was by KSR. Does anyone know?

I m enjoying this ''science in the capital'' very much... although Frank's considerations are bit lenghty and i felt like something is missing in the 'conversio'.

It might sound odd, but your fiction brings much more reality to the environmental issues than all the serious stuff i may read.
Not so odd you may tell since that's what well writen fiction does...bring in the emotions without which there is no full human experience of reality.
But still odd for I still can feel reality in fact based litterature.

The cause i'm sure is the optimist (or proactive) stance in the novel.
It's too often that my hearing / reading on these issues is hampered by what i feel to be an undercurrent of resentment wishing to resolve in catastrophes.

I had a look at wikipedia concerning the THC slowdown and the little ice age before feeling like to get to know what you would say after what seems like researches telling it might not be, let's say, as big as that... is this article tampered by the ''Climate change does not exist'' afficionados ?

Do you know of any source that is vulgarising on environment without that gilt that sours so many discourses, steaming my glasses.

I m enjoying this ''science in the capital'' very much... although Frank's considerations are bit lenghty and i felt like something is missing in the 'conversio'.

It might sound odd, but your fiction brings much more reality to the environmental issues than all the serious stuff i may read.
Not so odd you may tell since that's what well writen fiction does...bring in the emotions without which there is no full human experience of reality.
But still odd for I still can feel reality in fact based litterature.

The cause i'm sure is the optimist (or proactive) stance in the novel.
It's too often that my hearing / reading on these issues is hampered by what i feel to be an undercurrent of resentment wishing to resolve in catastrophes.

I had a look at wikipedia concerning the THC slowdown and the little ice age before feeling like to get to know what you would say after what seems like researches telling it might not be, let's say, as big as that... is this article tampered by the ''Climate change does not exist'' afficionados ?

Do you know of any source that is vulgarising on environment without that gilt that sours so many discourses, steaming my glasses.

A couple of decades ago I read KSR's story "A History of the Twentieth Century, with Illustrations". Much of it consists of a travelogue around Orkney, and in particular the neolithic village of Skara Brae. Ever since I've had this desire to visit the place, and now I finally did it.

It is hard to describe why I feel such a strong connection to those neolithic sites, but in a way it was like half-seeing the invention of civilization, a cultural revolution that brought about technological and ideological concepts that we now take for granted.

I just finished 2312 and I found it so compelling I couldn't put it down. I think the author's love and fear of humanity is in tune with the anxiety all of us feel right now- troubled times that we could all participate in fixing.

I thought the outpouring of technical data alongside the fiction or even scifi fantasy to be in good balance, very enjoyable.

I read with awe the description of the rain in D.C. in Forty Signs of Rain, a 2004 copyright book. I have the receipt from my purchase in May 2011 marking one of the more remarkable features. On Page 362 there is reference to Tropical Storm Sandy.(!?!)
An amazing prediction, on par if not surpassing Nostradamus's prediction of Hitler (Hisler). You only missed by a few miles.

A newly-published book on California becoming an independent nation is available on Amazon.com, called "California's Next Century."
I saw while researching this book that you had already written on topics about the future welfare of this great state.
I was hoping that you might be interested in this book, and would consider posting a comment about it on the Amazon.com site.
I am more than willing to send you free copies of the book at any time.
For more information on the book visit at: www.californiasnextcentury.com/

As an appetiser to Shaman can II recommend 'Spirits of the Mothers' by Cristi Fernández Narvaíza? This pseudo-scientific book highlights the plight of our ancestors 15,000 years ago. The chapters skilfully alternate between a narrative followed by facts, figures and the author's conclusion. I read it in one sitting and wished other science based books used such style. I look forward to Shaman with this little book's knowledge in mind.

Knowing Jackie's character, it seems natural for her to single out *female* body mutilation, most likely forced upon them by men, rather than bodily mutilation in general -- I don't think a character's words have to be taken as KSR's opinions always.

On religious freedom being enshrined in the Dorsa Brevia document, I'm guessing there must be an article or clause stating that self-determination over one self takes precedence over all else, including religious freedom. I would have to check the Dorsa Brevia and the Mars Constitution to make sure.

I remember a lot of power going to women in Blue Mars, mainly due to the Dorsa Brevia Group and Jackie. I don't remember that necessarily "most" decisions went to women, however I would have to check.

KSR has mentioned woman empowerment (and widespread access to contraception) as perhaps the best way towards social justice and battling climate change, so this is something he talks about often. But apart from the Mars trilogy I don't remember him writing about how it would come about in other works -- it's just there, naturally! There's a lot about gender in 2312, and in the short story "Sexual Dimorphism" (The Martians); there's some of it from the evolutionary psychology point of view in the "Science in the Capital" troligy too.

Hi, my name is Greg. I've surfed the web through and couldn't find any trace of Kim Stanley Robinson, which as I know was published via your agency. The question is about translation his books into Russian and publishing them in Russia, but still I cannot find neither him, nor his lobbyists. If you can help me somehow, please respond via the e-mail.
Sincerely, Greg.

Hi all! I read the Mars series back in college, and was impressed by the way that the technology in Red Mars seemed to be well-researched, based on the technology of the day.

I'd like to ask KSR -- what would he change about that, given the events of the last fifteen years? The retirement of the shuttle program in particular and the unavailability of external tanks to build the [i]Ares[/i] would be an obvious place to start, as would the relative rise of China and India as spacefaring powers.

Does KSR still believe that it's plausible for the first man on Mars to have been born in 1976?

Hi, my name is Greg. I've surfed the web through and couldn't find any trace of Kim Stanley Robinson. The question is about translation his books into Russian and publishing them in Russia, but still I cannot find neither him, nor his lobbyists. If you can help me somehow, please respond.Sincerely, Greg.

Hi, my name is Greg. I've surfed the web through and couldn't find any trace of Kim Stanley Robinson. The question is about translation his books into Russian and publishing them in Russia, but still I cannot find neither him, nor his lobbyists. If you can help me somehow, please respond via the e-mail.Sincerely, Greg.

Dear friends co-fans of KSR I have two questions about the story of Red Mars:Why John Boon dies in the beginning?And which is the exact year of the landing - 2027 according to 9 months flight from 21 Dec. 2026 or 2037 according to John Boon's calculation of year M 10 - 2047 when the truck falls?Thank you!

I am reading 'the years of rice and salt' after thoroughly enjoying the Mars series and 2312, and I would really benefit from being able to express me gratitude to the great KSR, is there any way to directly reach him? (Email or an old fashioned letter for example?)

I love the Red Mars trilogy and was re-reading it, when I came upon something that Jackie said in Blue Mars: she mentions that if they allow individual towns and cultures too much autonomy, they could end up with a place that practices (gasp) female genital mutilation.

I'm wondering why KSR singled out female genital mutilation, and didn't mention male genital mutilation? Non-consensual circumcision is practiced by Judaism, and earlier in Green Mars the character create the Dorsa Brevia document which unthinkingly enshrines the right to religious freedom, without any mention of how to protect young boys and girls from having their bodies mutilated.

If KSR were to write these books today, would he still have Jackie single out only *female* circumcision and make no mention of the plight of young boys in these same cultures?

Hi. I am a fan of Red, Green, & Blue Mars (and any other color he might put together too.)

I don't have any of the Mars trilogy in hand, but I seem to remember a section where Robinson states that, by this time, most real political decisiveness [if not actual real power?] had transferred over into the hands of women, rather than the millennia old system dominated by male agendas. I could have this completely wrong, but if not, does the author go more into the where, how and why of this possiblefuture phenomenon (possibly quite desirable if the truth be known).Perhaps in some essays?

Hi everybody!I was recently reading the Aurora book (which, by the way, is AMAZING), and it was mentioning pretty early on that the ship in Aurora is 12 magnitudes smaller than Earth. Since it is hard for the human mind to fully conceptualize the size of our world, I was trying to use Google to figure out how small, exactly, is 12 magnitudes smaller than Earth. I couldnt find anything useful online, so I was wondering if somebody here could help me out with some comparison (My research lead me to believe that 12 magnitudes smaller than earth is the size of bacteria, which it awfully small for a inter-solar space ship).Thanks! (btw thanks to Science Friday for recommending this book!)

I ve been a voracious reader of fiction for years and nothing has spoken to me the way your writing has.

I just want to say thank you. Thank you for writing novels that allow me to escape and dream. Thank you for making characters that I care and fear for. Thank you for using your novels as a means to prompt discussions about some of humanitys biggest issues.

I would love nothing more than to buy you a beer. I ll likely never have such a pleasure so I ll hope you ll read this comment one day.

I just finished Gretel Ehrlichs "This Cold Heaven" about her trips to northern Greenland and life among native people there. Climate, landscapes, vegetation and people are all evocative of the KSRs Mars books. The Inuit who (at the time of of writing - late 90s) were still doing subsistence hunting from dog sleds and kayaks trying to stave off a growing market economy, outboard engines and snowmobiles and worried about global warming....Good book! Wonder if KSR read it?

[quote=Naseem]Hi everybody!I was recently reading the Aurora book (which, by the way, is AMAZING), and it was mentioning pretty early on that the ship in Aurora is 12 magnitudes smaller than Earth. Since it is hard for the human mind to fully conceptualize the size of our world, I was trying to use Google to figure out how small, exactly, is 12 magnitudes smaller than Earth. I couldnt find anything useful online, so I was wondering if somebody here could help me out with some comparison (My research lead me to believe that 12 magnitudes smaller than earth is the size of bacteria, which it awfully small for a inter-solar space ship).Thanks! (btw thanks to Science Friday for recommending this book!)[/quote]Lets look at it by volume.

The volume of the earth is 1.08*10^12 km. So I guess 12 orders of magnitude smaller would leave a volume of 1.08 km. That still seems a small for so many people but in bacteria sized.

Is there any way to get in touch with Mr. Robinson? Id like to share with him an idea I have for a book about our first contact with a different civilization and see what he thinks. The novel would cover 250 years, but the events that happen in the book are based on real events just changed from the past into the future to give a different perspective.

In some ways I think this is a book that I would like to read and would like to know if KSR is interested in lunch to hear me out. Im in Mountain View area.

Im a fan and got many of KSRs books. Mars Trilogy, Martian, The Years of Salt and Rice (perhaps my 2nd favorite), and 2312 and Shaman. (Aurora is on the way)

I was also at the conference about terraforming Mars at Moffatt Field and talked to the Mr. Robinson then, and when ask to read an excerpt from Green Mars he borrowed my book from the audience. Afterwards we talked about the fate of Hiroko at the end of the Blue Mars book.

I am very terrible about remembering titles but get a feel for authors. There was a story i read that was an extremely slow downfall of "the grid". Two children that had educated parents that had moved them into the country because of what they believed to be danger in the cities oncoming. Together they learned gardening and other obvious self sufficientcy living. What struck me about this story was how in the first part of the book, the young girl character said something to effect of no-one noticed the fall because it happend so slowly. Everyone just got used to the power going out every once in a while. But slowly it increased until there was no "grid" ETC. anyone have a clue?

No, I can't think of any that fits with that. There's "Glacier", with a teenage boy and teacher parents moving around while North America seems to be invaded by cold and glaciers. And there's "Down and Out in the Year 2000", a kind of urban post-apocalyptic setting with insecurity and covert weed growers...

Everything is “natural” including humans traveling to the Mars and making a “nest” of it via terraforming. Many living things migrate; alter their surroundings, nest – in different ways. Computers and plastic are “natural.” It is not possible for something to be “un-natural.” We are such an arrogant species, that we feel that we have the ability to “create” matter that is assembled in some what that it is no longer “natural.” So, what the Greens want to do on Mars is quite “natural.”

Or, if I am not allowed that – then allow me this – any action towards Mars “changes it” including looking at it. So, if the Reds are so damned hell bent on leaving Mars in its pristine state, they not only should they not set one single foot or pod or wheel on it, but should not enter its orbit and should not even look at it from afar. You cannot be “partially” pregnant. You are either “changing Mars” or you are not. It is like the joke: A guy meets a woman in a bar and says, will you sleep with me if I pay you 1 million dollars, she says yes; then he says, how about if I pay you $10 – and she says, what do you think I am a prostitute, to which he replies, we have already established that, we are now only haggling over the price of the service. Changing Mars is changing Mars.

Hi! I think it is necessary to add in the chapter about translations a new information that the novel "2312" is published in Russia. I bought this book in the shop yesterday and was reading it half a night with a great pleasure. It was really hard to stop and go to sleep :-) Big thanks to the author!

Kim Stanley Robinson will be giving the keynote lecture at the April 15th event sponsored by Columbia's Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture. More information can be found here and here. Free and open to the public. We hope you can make it!